Photos: The 17 coolest skylines in the world

Juanita Ng, Vancouver Sun05.25.2012

Which cities have the most beautiful skylines in the world? Click on to see.'
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London's buildings have been built over centuries, though few predate the Great Fire of 1666. The city's tallest building is the 50-storey, 235-metre One Canada Square, which comprises largely office space. London doesn't have a lot of skyscrapers due to building height restrictions put in place to protect views, especially of St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London and Westminster Palace.'
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Sydney's skyline includes the Sydney Opera House, one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. The iconic building, which houses seven performance venues, covers 4.5 acres and is 183 metres long and 120 metres wide at its widest point. Sydney's tallest building is the 50-storey, 243-metre (to top of spire) Citigroup Centre; the city's tallest structure is the 309-metre Sydney Observation Tower.'
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Breathtaking Rio de Janeiro benefits from that age-old combination of mountains and water, as well as its successful melding of old and new. Most of Brazil's tallest buildings are in San Paulo, the country's finance centre; Rio's tallest building (and Brazil's third-tallest) is the 50-storey, 164-metre Rio Sul Centre.'
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Singapore has a 280-metre building height restriction in place due to its proximity to an air base; hence, it has three towers that tie for the title of tallest building, all 280 metres in height: The Overseas Union Bank Centre, Republic Plaza and United Overseas Bank Plaza 1. In total, Singapore has 49 skyscrapers that are 140 metres or taller.'
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Kuala Lumpur's ultra-modern skyline is dominated by the Petronas Twin Towers, which are 452 metres tall. Between 1998 and 2004, the buildings were the tallest in the world.'
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The skyline of Yokohama, Japan's second-largest city after Tokyo, is dominated by the Yokohama Landmark Tower. With 70 floors and standing 296 metres in height, it is the tallest building in the city and in Japan. The building houses a five-star hotel between floors 49 to 70, as well offices, shops and restaurants on its lower floors.'
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Shanghai's tallest building (and the world's third-tallest) is the 101-storey, 492-metre Shanghai World Financial Centre, but the city's skyline is marked by its landmark Oriental Pearl Tower. At 468 metres, it is the city's second-tallest structure; it has just 14 floors and its primary function is to house an observation tower and a communications antenna.'
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With magnificent Victoria Harbour and mountains complementing its skyscrapers, Hong Kong is often considered to have the most spectacular skyline in the world. The city's tallest building is the 118-storey, 484-metre International Commerce Centre; that is also the fourth-tallest building in the world. In total, Hong Kong has 112 buildings that are 180 metres or taller in height.'
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Dubai is known as the City of Skyscrapers, and with good reason. It is home to the 828-metre (to top of spire) Burj Khalifa building, the centrepiece of a large-scale, mixed use development that includes 30,000 homes, nine hotels and three hectares of parkland. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building, free-standing structure and man-made structure in the world. Dubai is also known for having 63 buildings that are more than 200 metres tall, more than any other city, surpassing New York and Hong Kong.'
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Frankfurt is one of the few European cities with a cluster of highrises in its downtown core, unique in its ability to meld modern architecture with 1,000-year-old buildings. The city's tallest structure is the 331-metre-tall Europaturm observation tower; its tallest habitable building is the 56-storey, 259-metre Commerzbank Tower.'
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Toronto's skyline is dominated by the CN Tower, which is 553 metres tall and the equivalent of 147 storeys. However, the city's tallest inhabitable building is its First Canadian Place which, at 298 metres, is the tallest in Toronto and Canada.'
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As with many of the cities on this list, Vancouver's skyline is enhanced by its stunning natural setting. The city has 42 buildings that are more than 100 metres in height; the tallest is the 62-storey, 201-metre Shangri-La building. (Incidentally, the Vancouver Sun building, completed in 1973 and located at 200 Granville St., cracks the top 10 at No. 10; it has 30 floors and is 138 metres in height.)'
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Seattle's tallest building is the 76-storey, 286-metre Columbia Centre; however, the city's Space Needle tower is easily the most recognizable landmark. Built for the 1962 World's Fair, the Space Needle tower includes an observation deck, gift shop and restaurant. It figures prominently in images of Seattle and, though it is just 184 metres in height, is often framed so it appears to tower over taller buildings.'
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San Francisco has one of the most distinctive and beautiful skylines, comprising 410 highrises, 44 of which are taller than 122 metres in height. The city's tallest building is the Transamerica Pyramid, at 260 metres.'
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Pittsburgh doesn't have many skyscrapers, but its setting is unexpected and unforgettable. The heart of Pittsburgh lies where the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio, and there are more than 400 bridges in the city. The tallest building is the 64-storey, 256-metre U.S. Steel Tower, completed in 1970.'
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Chicago is known as the birthplace of the skyscraper because the first steel-framed skyscraper went up here in 1885; it was 10 storeys tall and 42 metres in height. Today, the city's Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is the tallest building in the U.S.; it has 108 floors and is 527 metres in height with the addition of its western antenna (442 metres without the antenna).'
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New York City has one of the most recognizable skylines in the world, thanks to buildings such as the Empire State Building (tallest at 102 storeys, 381 m, completed in 1931), the Bank of America Tower (second-tallest at 54 storeys, 366 m including its spire) and the Chrysler Building (third tallest at 77 storeys, 320 m). The New York Times building is a close fourth, at 52 storeys and 319 metres. When One World Trade Centre is completed next year on the Ground Zero site, it will be a symbolic 1,776 feet (541 m) in height, and the city's tallest building.'
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VANCOUVER - Which cities have the most beautiful skylines in the world? Some are simply spectacular because of their height and breadth and splendour of their architecture, while others strike a chord because of a combination of visual appeal and natural setting.

Vancouver's skyline, for example, doesn't break any records for height - but there's no denying its beauty, surrounded as it is by water and mountains.

Hong Kong's skyline is also enhanced by its proximity to mountains and water, but it is also awe-inspiring because of its sheer magnitude. Dubai's space-age skyline, created by lots and lots of money, is another jaw-dropper.

Others, such as London and Frankfurt, impress because they are such a successful blend of old and new.

Click here to see this gallery, which takes a look at 17 of the world's most beautiful skylines, as well as some of each city's tallest and most unique buildings. The list is amended from one by howstuffworks.com; details about the city and buildings are from wikipedia.com.

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